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A Utah lawmaker wants to pass a bill that would force children to be potty-trained in order to attend kindergarten. Senator Douglas Welton proposed HB331, which would require the Utah Board of Education to create a process where parents must affirm their child is potty-trained when enrolling them in kindergarten.
Welton said there has been an increase in complaints from schools across the state about children being unable to use the bathroom. While there have always been a few kids who were not potty-trained, Welton noted the number of accidents in classrooms has sharply increased since students returned to class following the coronavirus pandemic.
Welton said that teachers shouldn't have to deal with kids who soil their pants in class.
"That's not what [teachers] signed up to do, to teach kids how to potty train," Welton said. "That's a parent issue. That should happen before kids get to kindergarten."
A hearing date for the bill has not been set.